Apparatus for supplying abrasive to buffing wheels



May 31, 1949.

inf-.2-

J. P. CREAMER 2,471,727 APPARATUS FORvSUPPLYING ABRASIVE` TO BUFFING WHEELS Filed June 19, 1947 (S INVENTOR. James P, Creamer' Patented May 31, 1949 APPARATUS FOR 4SUPPLYING ABRASIV E T0 BUFFING WHEELS James P. Creamer, Hamden, Conn., assignor to Lea Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application June 19, 1947, Serial No. 755,548

2 Ciaims.

the buling wheel, and in the instance of the cake material, the butt end of the cake or nubbin would be left over, which would ce impractical to efciently reclaim.

Further, the excessive amounts of buiiing material applied to the bumng wheel would result in a packing of dirt in the crevices of the article being finished, thus creating a difficult cleaning problem.

While some attempts have been made to employ 4abrasive materials in liquid form, precise control of the liquid has been impossible because the abrasive would settle out of the liquid rapidly and even though the liquid was continuously agitated, there was always a tendency` to clog the applying apparatus due to non-uniformity in the consistency of the liquid. Automatic operation with such a bumng liquid was thus found to be inefficient, and manual operation consumed an undue proportion of the operators time.

One object of this invention is to provide an automatic apparatus which will apply buiiing liquid continuously and uniformly to the surface f a bufling wheel without waste.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of the above nature, in which each application of .the` bufng liquid to the wheel will be made at a predetermined rate of flow and for a predetermined period of time. Another object is to provide an apparatus of the above nature having means by which an oper- Iator may easily start the application of the buiiing liquid without being required to interrupt his attention to the bufling operation itself.

Another object is to provide a method of buing .wherein the amount and direction of application -of the bufing material will be precisely controlled.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, and very eicient and durable in use.

been illustrated on the accompanying drawing one form in which the invention may conveniently be embodied in practice.

In the drawing,

Fig. l shows a perspective view of an apparatus having a pair of builing Wheels and showing means for applying buffing liquid in the form of a spray to one of said bufling wheels.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View, on an enlarged scale, showing the construction of the timer valve for controlling the period of the abrasive spray.

Referring new to the drawing, in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts, the ninnerai iii indicates a standard having a flat base ita, and provided adjacent its upper end with a pair of oppositely-extending rotatable spindles i l and i la carrying hurling wheels i2 and lia, respectively. The builing wheels l2 and 12a. are adapted to be rotated rapidly to perform any desired hurling operations upon articles (not shown) which may beheld against the peripheral or side surfaces of said buiiing wheels.

ln order to support the spraying apparatus, one side of the standard le, laterally of the spindle I I, carries a vertical bracket plate i3 provided with horizontal arms Ma and Mb, to which is secured an upright mounting tube M which. supports a T-post i5 comprising a stem It telescopically received in said tube I4. The T-post h5 also has a horizontal tubular cross-arm Il rigidly secured at right angles to the stem i6.

|The cross arm Il is provided at its outer extremity with a hand screw lic which is adapted to clamp one end of a horizontal mounting post I8 within said arm I1. The opposite end of the mounting post I8 is provided with a vertical twoplate clamp i@ which is adapted to carry a pair of oppositely-extending l.-shaped supporting arms 2t, 2Go., to each of which a tubular spray gun support 2l may be attached, by means of a double clamp 22.

A spray gun 23 is carried on the outer end of the support 2i, being normally held in position for spraying bufng liquid directly against the peripheral surface of the hurling wheel l2 (or I2a), as shown in Fig. l.

By means of this construction, it will be seen that the hand screw lla, the clamp I9, and the double clamp 22 serve to mount the spray gun universally, and permit both longitudinal and rotatable adjustments so that the spray gun 23 may be pointed in any desired direction and be arranged at any desired height.

In order to supply bufiing liquid to the spray gun 23, provision is made of an overhead liquid tank 24 mounted upon the top of the stem |`6 of the T-post l-said tank having a shut-oir valve 25 at the point of connection with a flexible hose 26, leading to the spray gun 23.

The spray gun 23 is of the type which employs compressed air to break up the iiuid into an atomized spray and to propel the spray in the desiredf direction-the gun 23 being inoperative in the absence of air under pressure.

As herein disclosed, a flexible air hose 21 sup. plies compressed air to an air cleaner 28, which serves the purpose of cleaning said air and regu lating its uniform delivery through a flexible air hose 29, connected to the inlet of a timer valve 30. The outlet of the valve is connected by an air hose 3l to a shut-od valve 32 connected with the tubular support 2l, for delivering the compressed air to the spray gun 23.

The purpose of the timer valve 3@ is to enable the operator to actuate the spray gun for any de- Sredg predetermined periods; of time under the control; of a pedal 52 tol be described later.

The timer valve 30 is, connected to the base Illa or other support by an apertured angle bracket 3,3' and is held. thereby in a position which: will be convenient to the operators foot. The valve 30, includes a hollow body 34, provided with an upper screw closure plug 3.5, and a lower hollow closure and guide member 36, secured to the body 3,4. 'by a threaded union ring 31 coacting with a iange 38v of the valve body. The body 34 also is-provided with a lower horizontal air inlet nipple 39: and an upper horizontal air outlet nipple 40 having bores a,A 40a, respectively, communicating with the interior of said valve body 34. The nipplesI 39, 4U also serve as one means for mounting the timer valve upon the bracket 33 and said nipples are held rmly in operating position by two pairs of nuts 4l located on opposite sides of the bracket 33.

Within the Valve body 34, provision is made of a .valve seat 42 located intermediate the nipple bores 39a and 40a, and a hemispherical valve closure 43 is also provided to coact with the valve seat 42-sa-id closure being urged downwardly into closed position by a valve spring Ulv reacting against the top closure plug 35. rIhe valve closure 43, is movable upwardly into open position by a yerticall valve rod 45 which is; longitudinally slidable in a close iitting central bore 45a of the closure and guide member 36.

The valve rod 45 is extended downwardly into vthe closure and guide member 36 and has on its lower end a plunger- 46 comprising a leather cup 46a which is iitted into a d-ashpot cylinder 41 tormed in thek lower end' of said member 36. The dashpot cylinder 4K1v has a screw plug bottom closure 48 provided with an adjustable needle valye Mft-he lower end 49a of which is threaded and provided with a manipulating knob 50. A bleed hole 5l is provided in the closure 48 t'o con'- trol, the period of operation ofv the timer valve.

'13o facilitate the operation of the timer valve 3D, aped-al 52 is pivotally connected at its rear end tova horizontal pini 53: on the base Iba-the intermediate portiion of said pedali being pressed upwardly by a vertical counterbalance coil spring .5 4- disposed upon the base Ia.

Thefront end of the pedalf52 is located above a roller 55 carried in the outstanding end of a lever 5,6 fgulcrumed at an intermediate: point upon a, laterally-extending pivot pin. 51- secured at one side of the closureand guideA member 3.63 which embraces said lever' 55.l rIffhe opposite end of the, level?Y 56,- has` a S101;- 5.8 embracing the yvalve 4 rod to which said lever 56 is operatively connected by a coacting cross pin secured in said rod 45-the parts being so -linked that the depression of the pedal 52 will cause the opening of the valve closure 43, and lifting of the dashpot plunger 46.

Operation To place the apparatus in operation, the tank 24 will rst be provided with a supply of a buffing liquid having powdered buiing material, such as Tripoli, in suspension, preferably consisting of an emulsion.

The valve 25 will then be manually opened to permit the liquid to flow by gravity from the tank 24 to the spray gun 23. The air valve 32 will then be opened, and the spray gun 23 adjusted in height and direction so that it will direct a spray eiiiciently against the desired surface of the wheel I2.

The buffing wheel l2 having been set in rapid rotation by any suitable means, such as an electricmotor M, the operator will hold the work to be buried against the peripheral or side surface of said `buiing wheel, and will cause a spurt oi buling liquid to be sprayed upon the wheel surface by depressing the pedal 52 with his foot, whenever in his judgement it may be required.

It will be readily seen that a single momentary depression of the pedal 52- will trip the valve 302 and swing the lever 56 clockwise, raising the valve rod It-thus causing simultaneous rapid opening of the Valve closure 43 and the lifting of thedashpot plunger 46.

When the pedal is released, the downward closing movement of the valve closure 43 under the pressure of the spring 44 will be resisted and retarded by the air trapped in the dashpot 41 to a variable degree, depending upon the adjustment of the needle valve 49.

It will be understood that the needle valve 4'9 will no-rmally be set to allow the air in the dashpot 4.1: to escape through the bleed hole 5I' in two or three seconds, thereby holding the valve closure open long enough to permit passage of compressed air through the nipple bores 39a, 40a, for this. time period.

One advantage of the present invention is that the application of the liquid bui'ing material to the bufting wheel l2 will be under the complete control of the operator-requiring a minimum. of attention from himl and leaving his hands and hi's eyes free to concentrate on the buffing operation.

A further advantage is that uniformity in the application of thefbufling material is achieved, since in the normally desirable spraying period of two or three seconds,y many revolutions of the builing wheel l2 will take place permitting the spray to;` cover the entire periphery of the bufling wheel,

A still further advantage is that the liquid supply tank- Zbl` may easily be filled, and inasmuch as, no complicated mechanism for agitating the liquidA is required', the entire liquid system will be compact and'y easy to clean.

While this invention. hasbeen herein illustrated asapplied to` a; manually-operat'ecl' buiiing spray apparatus, it will beV understood that itmay also be used uponautomatic buiing machines: in which any desired; trip mechanism may be employed to actuate the ai`r brush sprayr gunv without the use of any' variable` cams, eto., within.. thespirit and scope of thel presentinvention.

While the present invention has been. herein disclosed for applying a bufling liquid toJafbuiilng wheel, it will be understood that it may also be applied to a reciprocating belt, or directly to the work within the spirit and scope thereof.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specic disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming Within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In an apparatus for applying a liquid bufng compound to a buiing wheel, a spray gun, means for supplying bufng liquid and compressed air to said gun, and a timer mechanism for automatically cutting oi the supply of air at the end of a predetermined time interval, said timer mechanism including a normally closed valve for controlling the flow of said liquid and air, a longitudinally movable valve rod connected at one end to said valve, a lever connected to an intermediate portion of said rod and adapted to move the rod to open the valve, a spring urging said valve to closed position, and a dash pot at the other end of said rod to hold the valve open against the force of said spring for a predetermined time period.

2. In an apparatus for applying a liquid bufng compound to a buijng wheel, means for rotating said wheel at constant speed, a manuallydirectable atomizing spray gun located in proximity to said buffing wheel, means for separately supplying buiiing liquid and compressed gas to said gun, and mechanism comprising a manually operated control valve included in said gas supply means adapted to open the Valve, and dash pot timing means connected to said valve to automatically close said valve for cutting off said gas supply at the end of a predetermined time interval.

JAMES P. CREAMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 557,292 Turner Mar. 31, 1896 1,409,888 Taylor Mar. 14, 1922 1,735,600 Crowley Nov. 12, 1929 1,800,743 Morris Apr. 14, 1931 1,857,363 Dencklau May 10, 1932 2,083,773 Burrough June 15, 1937 2,332,992 Davis Oct. 26, 1943 2,380,275 Turner et al July 10, 1945 

